LIVE from the STAR PRINCESS - March 9th-24th, RIO to FT LAUDERDALE

[wineforhealth]

　

A funny thing happened a little while ago. We were reading in our cabin when there was a knock at the door. Opened it to find a gentleman who wanted to criticize something about the ship. (Yes, we have a door sign which I made for us and for some others) I explained Cruise Critic to him, though I’m not sure he really understood. He asked where he could write something, so I sent him to Trip Advisor. ;)

　

　

See you tomorrow.

 

What deck is the Trip Advisor on ?

 

your great

[Pia1913]

Sometimes you just need a day to do nothing and today was it. For me. After breakfast went back to the cabin and stayed there all day. Only surfaced long enough to bring back hamburgers and fries for our ensuite lunch. Mike went to the sale (of course) and took 3 different Computer@Sea classes.

We are now almost ready to attend the cocktail party and then will probably end up in Horizon Ct. for dinner. We definitely plan to see the comedian tonight and thinking about seeing Stardust too. It’s either feast or famine around here and going to the diningroom will mess up the entire time frame. I’m writing this while having some pre cocktail party wine. I never take their offerings anyway, and sometimes they take forever to bring you the drink of your choice. If at all.

 

LOL Jim. ;)

Au Revoir until tomorrow.

[jbrambach]

　

A funny thing happened a little while ago. We were reading in our cabin when there was a knock at the door. Opened it to find a gentleman who wanted to criticize something about the ship. (Yes, we have a door sign which I made for us and for some others) I explained Cruise Critic to him, though I’m not sure he really understood. He asked where he could write something, so I sent him to Trip Advisor. ;)

　

.

 

Too funny, thanks for the chuckle and thank you for taking us along on your vacation.

[riclop]

Another exciting review.Thanks

[ssbeagle]

What deck is the Trip Advisor on ?

 

your great

 

You aren't serious, are you? Trip Advisor is a web site where you can post your opinion on anything having to do with travel and also find valuable information as well as read other people's opinions. I have used it many times and it's been extremely helpful.

[Off2China]

You aren't serious, are you? Trip Advisor is a web site where you can post your opinion on anything having to do with travel and also find valuable information as well as read other people's opinions. I have used it many times and it's been extremely helpful.

 

I'm pretty sure it was a joke . . .;)

[rdsqrl]

. . . Clocks go back an hour tonight and that should put us even with EST. I don’t know whether or not we will play musical clocks again, but I always appreciate getting back that hour of sleep.

 

Pia, I hate to break it to you but if you're even with EST, you're going to be losing yet another hour of sleep in the near future -- we switched to Daylight Savings Time this past Saturday. (And someone, somewhere owes me another hour of spring break. Just sayin' ...)

[wineforhealth]

You aren't serious, are you? Trip Advisor is a web site where you can post your opinion on anything having to do with travel and also find valuable information as well as read other people's opinions. I have used it many times and it's been extremely helpful.

 

No I was kidding , just seeing if Pia had a funny comeback. Like deck 13

 

I hope you don't believe Pia story is true either.

[Pia1913]

Good Morning, it’s Thursday and St. Patrick’s Day at sea. The Patter’s top front page is in green and I’m expecting to see corned beef and cabbage on the menu. Maybe even green beer. There’s a special St. Paddy’s Day cocktail being offered for $4.75, which consists of vodka, blue curacao and orange juice.

　

It has cooled down considerably; 7:00 AM temt @72 and raining. The ship is rocking a bit; last night it really wiggled a lot. The gym this morning was active, though not overly crowded.

　

We had a late night (for us) last night, though it really wasn’t worth it. Lenny Winston who we thoroughly enjoyed a few nights ago, bombed with this show. And Stardust……………well, it was Stardust. New singers; new dancers; same songs. Capt. Circle party was good and the Captain didn’t stop talking. Didn’t know he could be so funny. He should have been on stage instead of the comic.

　

On tap today is the movie Eat, Pray, Love at 1:00 PM and Maxtone-Graham presentation at 3:30 PM. Not much else for us to do during the day except trivia, so we will attend both of the above.

　

Evening entertainment is a singer, Claude Eric, in the theater, the production show Words and Music in Vista and “You Again” on MUTS. The late movie in Vista will be “127 Hours.” Skywalker’s will have a St. Patty’s party starting at 10:30 and there’s Shamrock Karaoke in Explorer’s also beginning at 10:30.

 

 

Had some of you wondering, huh? Those who know me also know my warped humor too. Breakfast time.

[montgomeryfamily]

Pia, we have really enjoyed your review. :)

 

We are on the April 23 sailing of the Star Princess, which includes Easter Sunday as the first sea day of the cruise. The group coordinator has confirmed that religious services would be held. She stated a Catholic Priest would be onboard and hold both Catholic and non-denominational services. However, she did not know the timing of the services and indicated that the timing was up to the Cruise Director. We were hoping that there would also be an Easter sunrise service. This is a traditional service in many part of the US and I imagine would be quite lovely at sea--held outside or in Skywalkers.

 

Do you know if the Cruise Director onboard is going to be the Cruise Director for the April 23 sailing (which is the last Caribbean sailing before the repositioning) or could you possibly find out for our roll call? We intend to invite the officers, including the Cruise Director, to our Meet and Greet, but haven't received the listing yet.

 

Also, if the Cruise Director now is the same one as on our sailing, could you ask him for his email contact information so I could contact him in advance and ask him about the timing of the religious services and also mention to him the desire expressed by some CC members on the April 23 roll call for a non-denomination Easter sunrise service in addition to the traditional Catholic and non-denominational services. At least in the south, both the Catholic churches and the Protestant churches offer Easter sunrise services in additional to the traditional services, so I don't believe this would be an imposition for the Catholic Priest who is conducting all of the services.

 

We also want to know the timing because our Meet and Greet has been set up by Princess for 11:00 am at the Wheelhouse Bar for that Sunday (Easter) and we want to make certain there is no conflict for anyone. It would be very difficult to move the time of our Meet and Greet and notify everyone if we don't find out until Saturday night's Patter that one of the religious services is set for the same time as the Meet and Greet. Because this is an important religious day for many, we don't want that type of conflict since it can so easily be avoided by merely knowing the timing of the religious services in advance.

 

Thank you for any assistance you can provide. Enjoy the rest of your cruise! And Happy St. Patrick's Day! :)

[Pia1913]

It rained most of the day, but had no effect on us. Temp was mild; in 70’s, but indoors we needed a jacket. Tied at trivia this AM; lost tiebreaker. Nothing new there.

　

The entire deck 7 was decorated with green and white balloons from Atrium back to Vista. On Deck 14 aft there was a table set up with a sheet cake saying Happy St Patrick’s day and two smaller cakes; one a leprechaun and the other a clover. Cute.

　

We saw the Julia Roberts movie, Eat, Pray, Love. Like it, but not overwhelmingly. Scenery was great. Went to Maxton -Graham; left. He tried to be funny; didn’t work. His presentations are usually good, but this one was something made up and silly.

 

 

Kathy, don't hold your breath waiting for CD Frank to show up. He's hardly ever seen. The Wheelhouse is an awful venue for a M & G. Hope you have a small one. As for time of Easter service, we've been on board several times and it's always at 9:00 AM.

 

See y'all tomorrow

[montgomeryfamily]

Of course, we tried for Skywalkers, but it was not available until later in the cruise and we wanted to meet the first day. If it looks like we are going to outgrow that venue within another couple of weeks, we'll try for another location/time. Thanks for the warning.

 

Which Easter service was at 9:00 (nondenominational or Catholic)? Was the other one at 8:00 or 10:00? (or do you remember)

 

So is Frank going to be the CD until the repositioning? :( Well, if he doesn't show up, it will be his loss to not meet a group of great cruisers! :p And we will still be inviting the other officers, so hopefully some of them will show up. If not, we'll have a great Meet and Greet anyway!

[Pia1913]

Good Friday morning at sea. I think the rain has finally gone bye bye. The sun is shining, seas are calm and the 7;30 temp was 81.6.

　

I’m sure most of you know that the new cruise listings for 2012-13 opened for booking yesterday. Here it was at 3:00 PM. The lines at 1:00 was something to behold. There must have been 40 people already waiting 2 hours before she opened and the area that holds the future booking desk is very small and tight.

　

We finally got our passports returned; hadn’t seen them since February 23rd. New stamps on them are Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands and Brazil. No Uruguay.

　

There’s a new port lecturer on board; Joe May has become a passenger. It seems that all Caribbean port lectures are run through a separate contracted company, so now at 10:00 all those interested can find out about Barbados, Antigua and St. Thomas. I’ll pass.

　

This afternoon brings the movie “Easy A” (for the 3rd time), a Maxtone-Graham presentation on QEII and a Lenny Windsor presentation on “My Life with Benny Hill.” OOPS………almost forgot to mention the pub lunch in the Crown Grill.

　

Nothing much changing tonight, since last night’s singer is back in the theater and Words and Music is again in Vista. MUTS is showing “Salt,” and the late movie at 10:15 is “Another Year.” I really wish they would show some of these late movies during the day instead of constantly repeating the others.

 

 

Sorry Kathy, can't answer re: services. If you read my post from last week, there was only a Mormon service on Sunday. Things change all the time.

 

Now I need to get fed. Again. ;)

[montgomeryfamily]

Hope the rain is gone for good and you have nice weather today, Pia. Maybe today will be the day for the trivia win! :)

 

I had misunderstood your earlier post--I thought you had sailed previously on an Easter cruise. The group coordinator had already confirmed there would be both a Catholic and a non-denominational service--she just didn't know the time of either of them. So I was only asking about the timing of the religious services of your previous Easter cruises. But that is ok--we'll find out when we get onboard and hopefully the Meet and Greet is late enough at 11:00am that there won't be a conflict.

[Pia1913]

Hope the rain is gone for good and you have nice weather today, Pia. Maybe today will be the day for the trivia win! :)

 

I had misunderstood your earlier post--I thought you had sailed previously on an Easter cruise. The group coordinator had already confirmed there would be both a Catholic and a non-denominational service--she just didn't know the time of either of them. So I was only asking about the timing of the religious services of your previous Easter cruises. But that is ok--we'll find out when we get onboard and hopefully the Meet and Greet is late enough at 11:00am that there won't be a conflict.

 

Yes, we've been on more than one Easter cruise and as I recall, all services were at 9:00; catholic or otherwise.

[Pia1913]

Hooray for us; finally won this morning’s trivia, but not without a four way tiebreaker. Tiebreaker question was “how many seats are in the Princess theater?” The answer is 850; we guessed 840. Closest by a considerable margin. Passport wallets. Ours went to two of our roll call people who were ecstatic. :)

　

Those lines at the future cruise desk are growing by leaps and bounds. I think people are sleeping out there. Always nice to see that Princess is so successfully overbooking. We didn’t book anything. Don’t know where to go. Perhaps a New England cruise and back for Oct/Nov 2012. No ships out of Florida again summer of ‘12. Do we really need so many in Alaska?

　

Didn’t do much this afternoon except eat and fool around a bit with a slot machine. Played for more than an hour and ended up walking away with my original investment; 10 bucks. Too hot to use the balcony, so we read indoors. Lost again in afternoon trivia; by one, of course.

　

With limited choices for tonight, we are planning to stay in our cabin and watch a movie which we haven’t seen and know nothing about. It’s “The Answer Man.” Tune in tomorrow for the verdict. Our friends will be watching “Salt” which we liked, but not enough to see it again.

 

 

Dinner time. Hasta Manana

[Dietemann]

　

We finally got our passports returned; hadn’t seen them since February 23rd. New stamps on them are Chile, Argentina, Falkland Islands and Brazil. No Uruguay.

Pia, I can't remember, I think you got on the ship in SFO and were on the ship in Chile for the cruise transit? What about the reciprocity fee, was that included in the government fees of the cruise price? And the same for Argentina? I guess the only advance visa you needed is for Brazil? I booked the Grand from FLL to SFO so I'm curious about what I need to do in advance other than Brazilian visa (US citizen).

Thanks, I have enjoyed reading your travelogue and you are responsible for our booking the Grand;)!

[socaljo]

HOORAY on your win!! Thanks for keeping all of us "cruising"! :D

[caribill]

　

There’s a new port lecturer on board; Joe May has become a passenger. It seems that all Caribbean port lectures are run through a separate contracted company, so now at 10:00 all those interested can find out about Barbados, Antigua and St. Thomas. I’ll pass.

　

 

 

Joe May gives real lectures about the ports.

 

I suspect the contracted company tells you where to find Diamonds International, so they will not be real port lectures.

[Pia1913]

Welcome to Barbados, a great place to be if you want beach, snorkeling and zip lining. Otherwise, besides old plantations and flowers, there is just shopping for jewelry, diamonds and watches. As I recall from previous visits, the downtown streets are lined with one jewelry shop after another; more repetition than in any other port. We will opt out. Town is about a 10 minute walk, but Princess is selling a shuttle for $2.00/pp each way. There’s a cave visit (you take an elevator down 100 ft) which is interesting, but we’ve already done this in the past.

　

The Star arrived at approx. 7:00 AM and we will depart for Antigua at 5:00. There’s a $20 laundry bag offer today and other than morning trivia, nothing much to do if you stay on board. Oh yes, you can watch Toy Story 3, which is being shown in the theater at 1:30.

 

 

Tonight will be vocalist Nicole Cardona in the theater and the Bruce Willis movie “RED” in Vista. MUTS has nothing tonight because there will be Island Deck party starting at 10:15. Earlier, MUTS will have a Lionel Richie concert, followed by a Paul McCartney concert. Explorer’s do a Famous Faces trivia, but we will probably be watching Bruce Willis.

 

Dietemann: You only pay the reciprocity fee in Santiago if you fly in. Argentina is charging a $10 departure fee, but that will be charged to your account. We did that run in 2007; FLL to SFO.

 

 

Another hot day ahead; already 80ish. See you later.

[dbeckett]

The Barbados Concorde Experience that Princess offered on this cruise last year was well worth doing (the obligatory rum punch was had on the scenic drive back to the ship) but I saw it wasn't offered this year. Not sure why it wasn't offered as the bus to go and see it was full. It was probably the only thing that really interested us from the shore excursion options for Barbados but then we wanted to see the inside that we now won't be able to fly in.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

 

 

[Pia1913]

Crowded, crowded, Barbados. Four ships in port; three of them biggies. P & O Azura, Costa Meditteranea and us. The fourth is The World. Our docking area was usurped by the Azura. Guess they were willing to pay more. We schlepped to the terminal which was loaded with too many people, looked at all the same stores we saw last time we were here and then came back to the ship just in time to lose trivia. By one.

　

　

After lunch we decided not to see Toy Story 3 and perhaps enjoy the balcony that we are paying for. Skies were overcast, so I figured this would be a good time, even though the thermometer reading was 86, with comparable humidity. I lasted 20 minutes and that overcast sky became sunny and chased me inside.

　

FYI, Princess has an unlimited supply of passport wallets. That’s what we didn’t win this morning and also what we didn’t win this afternoon. Didn’t lose by one. Lost the tiebreaker.

　

We have decided not to have dinner tonight. At least that’s my decision. My body is on food overload. If we really need some sustenance, we can get it after the movie.

 

 

See you tomorrow in Antigua.

[rdsqrl]

The Barbados Concorde Experience that Princess offered on this cruise last year was well worth doing (the obligatory rum punch was had on the scenic drive back to the ship) but I saw it wasn't offered this year. Not sure why it wasn't offered as the bus to go and see it was full. It was probably the only thing that really interested us from the shore excursion options for Barbados but then we wanted to see the inside that we now won't be able to fly in.

A couple years ago, I was to cruise on the Emerald and had booked this shore excursion; unfortunately, I had to cancel the cruise and I think missing the Concorde Experience was one of the things that made me most sad! I'm bummed to hear they're not offering it, although it's certainly possible to get there on one's own. Glad to hear it was worth visiting.

Pia, how was Red? That's the one about old spies, with Helen Mirren, right? I need your review before I put it on my Netflix queue!

[Phyljim]

We did the Concord experience, maybe 5 years ago. Ship excursion.....was very enjoyable. Must have been a big thrill to fly that route. They did a make believe take off, with all the noise accompanying the demo. Sorry to hear they are discontinuing it. Was quite an experience. Also visited an interesting very old church on the way back.

But we did not get any run punch on the way back.:(